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How to Face Violence Against Women

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How to Face Violence Against Women Step by step HowEMANU to face violence against women ELA 5ªD Cambridge 0 EmanueLiceo Scientifico Statale “Gaetano Salvemini”, Bari Index Preface 1 Violence against women in the past and in the present: spot the differences 2 Women’s voices for change 9 The strange case of misogyny 16 Women: muses in art and objects in real life 22 Violence behind the screen and the musical notes 27 Two pandemics: violence against women and COVID-19 32 Rape culture: the monster in our minds 35 41 Words and bodies: verbal violence and prostitution Conclusion 45 Bibliography 46 1 Preface The idea for this book was born during an English lesson, on an apparently normal Wednesday. However, it was the 25th of November 2020, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women, and our teacher decided to focus on something which is not included in our school programme. By exchanging our opinions, we understood that our knowledge about the issue was not deep at all, no matter how many newspapers we read or news we watch. That pushed us to start this journey through all the aspects of violence against women. We did it by dividing us into groups and doing several types of research on many different websites and books (you can find our sources on page 46). We discovered that this problem is much wider than what we expected; it has influenced our world in endless ways, affecting all the fields of knowledge, such as art, cinema and music. We ended up reading hundreds of stories that touched us very deeply; that’s how we decided to give life to these pages. Is it only curiosity? Not at all. Young people always wish to change the world: we hope that our little contribution can make a difference in the mindsets of people around us. The idea behind the title is this one: monsters cannot be won all at once, but Step by step, all together, holding our hands. To all the women in the world: you are not alone! Wherever you are, you will never find yourself abandoned. Be strong, it is not your fault, and we know it. Before you start your journey, here is a quote that is worth reading: "No more minutes of fear, of humiliation, of pain, of silence. We have the right to have every minute of freedom, happiness, love and life. We want to live. All of us. Not one less." -"Ni una menos" campaign against gender-based violence. Enjoy the reading! 1 Violence against women in the past and in the present: spot the differences Violence against women in the past and in the present: spot the differences In order to start this journey through violence against women, it is important to understand what people mean with the word violence and when or where the one against the female gender started. Many dictionaries have more than one definition for the same word or concept. The Oxford English Dictionary defines violence as “the exercise of physical force so as to inflict injury on, or cause damage to, persons or property; action or conduct characterized by this; treatment or usage tending to cause bodily injury or forcibly interfering with personal freedom”, but also “as Improper treatment or use of a word; wresting or perversion of meaning or application; unauthorized alteration of wording”. The first definition that we presented is also the first one that the readers find when they look for it, while the other one is the third proposed by the dictionary. For the U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women violence against women is “any act…that results in…physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or in private life”. This intro already proves a point. It is shocking that in the dictionary physical and psychological violence are divided and not included in the same definition, just like if you have to show scars and stitches to prove that you have been violated. The first step to fight against the assaults is to be able to identify them. The acronym used to shorten the whole expression is VAW (violence against women). It is considered to be one of the major clinical problems in the world. Statistics say that globally one in three women have experienced violence from their partners. Rape in ancient world and mythology The first evidence about rape is found in the Code of Hammurabi where it is written that if the raped woman is married, she is punished with death together with the aggressor, while if she is not, the punishment is applied only to the man. Here is a list of laws present in the Code itself: 129. If the wife of a man is caught lying with another man, they shall bind them and throw them into water. 130. If a man has ravished another's betrothed wife, who is a virgin, while still living in her father's house, and has been caught in the act, that man shall be put to death; the woman shall go free. 143. If she has not been discreet, has gone out, ruined her house, belittled her husband, she shall be drowned. 155. If a man has betrothed a maiden to his son and his son has known her, and afterwards the man has lain in her bosom and been caught, that man shall be strangled and shall be cast into the water. At verses 22, 23-29 (of other laws not present in the list above) it is stated that according to the place where the violence occurs, different trials are planned. If a woman is raped in the city, 2 because it is alleged that she could have shouted in order to receive help, she has to suffer the same punishment of the man. If the abuse occurs in the countryside, even if the woman had shouted no one could have helped and so the abuser must pay money to her family or eventually marry her. This is a proof of how old the shotgun wedding is. Since the Babylonians weddings were arranged in order to “save” the honour and reputation of the family of the victim. It is shocking to know that this procedure was legal in many countries due to the so-called Marry-your- rapist law. This law was based on the idea that if a girl or woman is raped, it is her fault and therefore she should marry the rapist in order to do not throw her family into disrepute. It is not difficult to understand that this legislation actually protected the rapist because in this way they were exonerated from the punishment. In 2017, a World Bank Group report claimed there were 12 countries left with marry-your-rapist Franca Viola around 1960. laws: Angola, Bahrain, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iraq, Jordan (repealed in August 2017), Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, the Philippines, Syria, and Tunisia (repealed in July 2017). In Italy, Article 544 of the Italian Criminal Code considered rape an offence against 'public morality', not against a single person. Things changed thanks to Franca Viola. She was one of the first women refusing the “repair marriage" publicly in 1966 after having been raped at the only age of 17. This idea of women being inferior spread in the Ancient world easily and even started to be supported by science. Greeks believed that humans were the most perfect animals and that more specifically, men were better than women because of their body temperature. Even if their anatomy was the same, men appeared to have hotter organs while women were unable to reach that temperature and therefore were inferior. Even the philosopher Aristotle agreed with this theory in his work Politics where he wrote: “as regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject”. It is difficult to have data about rape in Ancient time, but our case can be based on Greek mythology because those stories were examples for the population on how to behave properly. So, it is not reckless for us to write that mythology helps us in understanding abuse at that time. The first story we would like to analyze is the one of Medusa. It is possible to create a comparison between how society considered her after the rape and how society considers women today after the rape. According to the Roman poet Ovidio, originally Medusa was an outstanding woman who was transformed into the monster that we all know by Minerva as a punishment because she was raped in one of her temples by Poseidon. The comparison should be clear now. Medusa was not the villain we are used to think, she was the victim. Even today women who suffered violence think to be the cause of the violence itself, they tempt to justify the attackers. However, what touches the readers the most is the reaction that Minerva has. She knows about the abuse and yet she punishes Medusa. It is almost painful to see how this part of the story is current because even in our society we can clearly feel a lack of empathy among people. For example, often we hear people claiming that rape occurs also according to the kind of dress the victim was wearing, while the blame should be put only on the aggressors. 3 The destiny of women in the Ancient Rome was identical. Again, they were considered minors by the law and as objects that belonged to the father during childhood and then to the husband during marriage.
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